But the guys and I were like brothers. I’d been afraid of losing them. I’d pushed for us to promise that none of us would date her.
Another impressive fuck-up on my part.
“Maybe we could stop by my house on our way back,” Van says. “Daddy canceled my cards. I know, poor me. But I’ve got a good supply of cash in my room. We could buy her some things.”
“That’s not what Izzy’s ever cared about.”
Van pulls a face. “I know. But every girl likes pretty, spendy things, don’t they?”
I shake my head.
“I want to get her a car,” Van mutters to himself, then shakes his head, slipping out of his fantasies. “Okay. What were you thinking, then? You’re the smart one.”
“You know I’m not.”
“You and Reid are identical twins,” Van says in exasperation. “You literally have the same big brains. You’ve just always chosen not to use yours, but we know you can. So think.”
I roll my eyes to cover how much Van had surprised me. I didn’t think the guys could surprise me anymore. I didn’t think they saw me as smart.
It made me want to be a smarter, better man, not just for Izzy, but for all of them. It’d be a nice change of pace to live up to someone’s expectations.
“Do you think she knows about the night it all went wrong?” I say. “The night that things started…heating up…and we freaked out after?”
“Yeah,” Van says quietly. He raises his hand to the waitress. “I think she knows.”
“Maybe we could recreate that night.”
Van’s lips tug to one side. “That sounds a lot more painful than a trip to the Louis Vuitton store.”
“Maybe that’s the point. She’s got to know we can see we were wrong.”
“You want us to grovel,” Van says flatly.
I shrug.
“Whatever it takes,” Van mutters. “I hear girls love a good grovel. But I’ve never bothered before.”
“Izzy’s worth it.”
“She is.”
The waitress plunks down another round before she scurries off, and Van raises his glass. “What, in our wretched lives, should we toast to?”
“To groveling,” I suggest.
“To groveling.”
I clink glasses with him.
He takes a long sip of his whiskey. “Should we get drunk in a vampire bar?”
I shrug. “We should get drunk wherever we want. We’re gods.”
He glances up. “Speaking of…”
Someone looms over our table. I look up to see a big vampire, fangs out, flanked by other vampires.
“I feel like bringing your fangs out,” Van mimes fangs with two of his fingers, “is like walking up to someone with your dick out. Very presumptuous and likely dangerous.”
“Bad manners, really,” I agree.
“What do you want?” the lead vampire demands. He is dressed in head-to-toe black Armani and when he crosses his arms, his fancy gold watch glints under the lights. But his fangs make him lisp a little, which makes him far less intimidating.
“We came here looking for a few vamps,” I say. “They killed my sister three years ago. Car wreck.”
He nods slowly. “I think I remember that.”
My heart races. “Yeah? You know who they were? You know where we can find them?”
The vamp bares his teeth in a smile. “I know where you can find your sister.”
The bar explodes into commotion.
As one of the vamps throws himself at me, I kick back in my chair, letting myself fall so he’d sail over me. Then I jump to my feet in time to meet the second one who launches himself toward me, his fangs flashing.
They were fast.
We were faster.
Together, Van and I fought seamlessly, knocking down vampires left and right. The place turned into a bloodbath, and not the kind that vampires enjoyed.
I kneel on the neck of the lead vampire a few minutes later. His nostrils flare, and there is fear in his eyes when he stares up at me.
“I miss my sister,” I say, “but today’s not the day I join her. And you’re not the one who sends me there. Now I think you need to answer my questions.”
He was a lot more helpful that time around.
Chapter Seven
Izzy
One minute I’d been walking across campus and my gaze had skidded and stopped on Reid in the training yard with Mercy. The next, I was beside them. I didn’t even have enough time to hide the fact that I was jealous as hell before they were both looking at me.
This had to be a new god-thing. Super speed or some crap like that? I wasn’t sure, but I already didn’t like it.
Reid walks toward me with an unexpected grace. He’s completely filled out his school uniform. The material strains across his broad shoulders, and I swear I can almost see his six-pack under his shirt. For some reason, I can’t catch my breath as I look at him; I feel unreasonably angry. I liked Reid when he was just a scrawny guy that people dismissed as a “nerd.” Would Mercy be all over him if she’d seen him then?
I didn’t think so.
“What’s up?” he asks, as he comes to stop beside me.
My gaze collides with Mercy’s. “Let’s talk somewhere else.”
He nods and follows me.
I pick a path at random, trying to stride ahead of Reid, but his long steps easily match mine. Along the way, some students nod or wave, while others go out of their way to avoid us. Despite my mood, it surprises me a bit to notice the changes in the other students. It seems every day this place becomes just a little less hostile.
I guess we’re growing on some of our favorite students.
That probably had more to do with Reid than any of us. Even though I’d tried super hard to be kind to everyone and show them we weren’t a threat, it hadn’t missed anyone’s notice how hard Reid tried at everything. Even his little sparring lessons with Mercy had led to more and more students slowly making their way to class through their training area. I think they liked seeing that he didn’t give up, but also that he was a good sport about it all. It made us seem more human, and less…almighty.
When we reach the untamed gardens on one side of the school, my emotions start to feeling like they’re crackling under my skin. I keep walking until we get to a more private area, and then I whirl on him. “We need to talk.”
“You said that,” he says. “But what do we need to talk about?”
What did we need to talk about? “We slept together.”
His entire body goes rigid, and his gaze darkens. “Yes, we did.”
“Did it mean anything to you at all?”
I swear, his brain stops working for a minute. “Wh-What? Of course it meant something to me! You’re the one who didn’t want to tell anyone or focus on it right now.”
He’s right, but I hate that he’s right. “Well, I’m ready to talk about it now.”
“Okay.” He steps closer to me, so close that I can catch the soothing smell that’s all Reid. “I think we should start dating.”
It’s my turn to stare dumbly at him. I’d wanted to talk about this when I’d seen him with Mercy. Seeing him with anyone else made me realize that with all the chaos here I couldn’t risk losing him again.